Performing Arts

Earlier this month, Manhattan’s Madison Square Park was the setting for Día de los Reyes, a community event celebrating Afro-Cuban dance and culture. Initiated by Teresita Fernández and the Madison Square Park Conservancy, it took place beneath the golden canopies of Fernández’s installation Fata Morgana.

This spring, Pedro Ruiz, the former Ballet Hispanico dancer now choreographer, was named associate artistic director of Ballet Contemporáneo Endedans de Camagüey. In a lively conversation with Cuban Art News co-publisher Patricia Farber, Ruiz talks about his new position and what it means for him to be working in Cuba again.

On a recent trip to Havana, Cuban Art News co-publisher Patricia Farber sat down with an old friend, prima ballerina Viengsay Valdés, for a wide-ranging conversation touching on the dancer’s childhood, favorite ballet roles, and what lies ahead for ballet in Cuba.

Founded in December 2012 by two alumni of Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, the ten-member MalPaso Dance Company recently stepped out for its first appearances outside Cuba. Dance scholar Elizabeth Schwall offers background on MalPaso, some of the factors in their success, and the history of contemporary dance on the island.

For three years, filmmaker Mary Jane Doherty followed a secondary-school class at Havana’s famed National School of Ballet. In an e-mail interview with Nadine Covert, she talks about the filmmaking process, her immersion in the world of Cuban ballet students, and the unexpected twists that her story took.

Anthony García, winner of the 2017 CINTAS Prize in Architecture & Design, talks with Rosa Lowinger about tactical urbanism, cubanidad, and his CINTAS proposal, the Bungalow Project. Its goal: To help save the community and architectural fabric of Little Havana.